As a battle brews between Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the Legislature over pre-kindergarten funding, the Harris County Department of Education (HCDE) board voted Tuesday to keep the federal government’s version of early education, Head Start and continuing 15 of their preschool programs.

The president, who appeared with both current U.S. Secretary of Education John King and the former secretary, Arne Duncan, told students, “We live in a global economy,” and that they will be competing for jobs with people not only from the United States, but also from “India and China.”

Sen. Lamar Alexander’s final draft of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reauthorization bill is a 1,059-page piece of legislation that House and Senate education committees decided upon after several months of backroom deals and only two days of open “conference.”

The House’s version of the redo, known as the Student Success Act (H.R. 5), was pulled from the House floor by GOP leadership in late February after it was determined the measure lacked sufficient support. Grassroots parents’ groups – many that have been fighting against the Common Core standards in their states – voiced their concerns that the Student Success Act still required excessive federal intrusion into the right of states to set their own education policies.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement late Thursday, May 7, regarding the Texas Senate’s passage of House Bill 4 (HB 4). The bill contains much of the pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) wish list initiative he declared an emergency item to implement in accordance with his campaign promises.